Contributed photo: The First Wave Hip Hop Touring Theater Ensemble, Cydney Edwards, left, Janel Herrera, Andrew Thomas, Thiahera Nurse and Christian Robinson are the elite performers of the University of ... more

First Wave Hip Hop Theater Ensemble set to take Quinnipiac University by storm (video)

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HAMDEN -- They rap, they beat, they slam. They are the cream of the crop of student poets who have raised hip hop to an art form that combines it with theater from a program that has become The Juilliard School of its genre.

Ney uses a sports analogy to explain the stature of these students, who have risen to the top of the 65 full-scholarship students in the program, which is both meritorious, diverse and unique -- the "only university-based program that offers full tuition for spoken word and young hip-hop artists," he says. "There is no other learning institution with a program like this."

Ney calls the explosion of popularity in spoken word theater "like a renaissance among youth, especially youth of color. There are hundreds of organizations at elite schools, communities or coffeehouse-based. We tap into those ..."

Many, says Ney, send their students to competitions, such as The Brave New Voices, a national slam competition that Ney and his staff are well connected to, staying as they always do, ahead of the curve, like coaches tracking desirable recruits.

"There's a growing interest in hip hop worldwide, but it's strongest in the U.S.," he says. "The genre is entering the higher education frontier, so we're the frontier offering 15 scholarships every year. We have a huge national network of allies."

And, because of the program's reputation, Ney says, "I'm the first person in higher education that has the capacity to tap into this gold mine and make the connection between the movement and that youth and get them scholarships and an education."

Education is the key, says Ney, adding that, "It's not like you're coming here to be a better artist," though some might argue that's also inevitable.

He compares the First Wave program to college athletics, to which athletes at the secondary level aspire, not only to play at that level, but also for the educational opportunity.

"Many are first-generation who hope to break from the poverty cycle. Most are lower income. It's a way for them to serve their community and their families and change the status of their lives. Many are from broken communities," he says of his poets.

They bring a lot of those personal stories into their art, says Ney. "Each one of their stories is about the broader American story, but through the lens of young people ... ."

Knowing they were going to be performing at many Martin Luther King Jr. city events, Ney says they wrote original material on those themes, a mix of long and shorter pieces, woven together under the experienced eye of assistant professor of dance Chris Walker, the ensemble's artistic and creative director, working with Danez Smith, the creative and academic adviser and one of First Wave's original 15 students.

"There's an entire piece on the guilt that's there to a certain degree of being away from home. Being away seems almost like a privilege. One side of the brain is stuck with being away from your family. It's a really powerful piece," Ney says.

The process serves the students well after their touring days are over, and they're pursuing careers, says Ney, adding that one is heading to law school to be an activist lawyer, another pursuing university arts administration.

" ... Imagine the capability students have when they go into a workplace that's looking for innovators, critical thinkers and problem solvers."

The program started in the fall of 2007, graduating its first class in 2011.

"As it turns out, all of the 15 original students that came in, it's looking like every single one will have graduated," says Ney, noting that there's a 98 percent retention rate so far, "which is remarkable, considering the backgrounds of some of these students."

Each fall, there's an audition process for the ensemble among the 60 permanent students. The freshmen are housed in the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate to cultivate close-knit interaction.

In other words, they eat, sleep and breathe their art.

Anyone can participate, but the program is looking for students who are "activists, leaders in their respective schools and neighborhoods," whose often dramatic impact has seeped into the mainstream.

Touring ensemble students must maintain a 3.0 grade-point average. They get credit for being in the ensemble, because they've been able to "convince faculty members that it has deep academic qualities. Some pieces are historically framed, so they need to do research," Ney says.

First Wave has a strong connection with its Connecticut alumni and performed here in 2011 as part of a Yale-Quinnipiac education achievement gap symposium, where they headlined, and "a lot of people were blown away by what we did," says Ney.